Complex surfaces with three-dimensional topologies possessing a specific spatial arrangement of chemical functional groups are the basis for phenomena such as recognition, separation or catalysis. The fabrication of such systems using organic or biological molecules as templates has been termed "molecular imprinting". Most of these systems are created by interaction of a template molecule with either a pre-formed polymer or by polymerization of monomers in the presence of a template.sup.1, 2. (See the list of corresponding publications (1)-(14) at the end of the specification). The resulting structures are bulk polymers in which the template leaves behind cavities, which are more or less complementary to the shape and spatial distribution of functional groups of the template. Based on the pioneering work of the formation of monomolecular layers of alkylsilanes on glass or quartz surfaces by chemisorption from solution by J. Sagiv et al..sup.3, it was shown that planar solid surfaces can also be patterned and that such systems show selective molecular recognition.sup.3-5. The use of the molecular self-organization property of amphiphilic molecules offers further advantages. The two-dimensional diffusion of lipid and lipid-analog molecules in Langmuir monolayers at the air/water interface allows the formation of two-dimensional patterns in such monolayers by binding template molecules from the sub-phase.sup.6-8. Such structures have been studied not only at the water surface, but also after transfer onto solid supports.sup.9, 10. The latter systems are today the only systems which do not employ either polymerization or cross-linking in order to stabilize the imprinted structure, but it has not been shown that the template molecules can be removed from the patterns without loss of the imprint. Finally, imprinted patterns have also been created on the surfaces of lipid bilayer membranes of liposomal assemblies using polymerizable lipids with specific functional groups (e. g. histidine tags).sup.11-13. In this case the patterns were stabilized by polymerization of the lipid matrix.sup.11.
None of the systems described above use or claim the use of lipids or lipid-like amphiphiles with polar or ionic head-groups for pattern formation via for example electrostatic or other reversible non-covalent interactions with templates. Furthermore the reversible formation of two-dimensional patterns has never before been described and molecular imprints have never been stabilized in a non-covalent way, e.g. by a physical phase transition, which allows to create and erase such imprints as desired.